Peonies

c. 1880

Renoir once told a friend “painting flowers rests my brain. . . . I place my colors and experiment with values boldly, without worrying about spoiling a canvas.” In this still life, vibrant reds and pinks stand out against the dark background and cast blue shadows across the white tablecloth. Using thin washes and strokes of thicker paint, the artist has captured the peonies’ sumptuous colors and the delicate textures of their petals and leaves.

Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	21 3/4 x 25 7/8 in. (55.3 x 65.7 cm) Frame: 32 x 35 13/16 in. (81.3 x 91 cm)
Object Number	1955.585
Acquisition	Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status	On View

Image Caption

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Peonies, c. 1880, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.585

Select Bibliography

Paris.. Septième Exposition des artistes indépendants.. March 1-31, 1882.. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.. Exhibit Six: Impressionist Paintings.. Opened Sept. 18, 1956.. Wildenstein & Company. An Exhibition of Treasures from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts: Paintings, drawings & rare silver, for the benefit of the Committee to Rescue Italian Art, inc. (CRIA). Exhibition catalogue. New York: Wildenstein & Company, 1967. Wildenstein & Co., New York.. Paris-New York: A Continuing Romance. Nov. 3-Dec. 17, 1977.. 1977.. Nagoya (Japan): Nagoya City Art Museum.. Renoir Retrospective. Nagoya City Art Museum, Oct. 15-Dec. 11, 1988; Hiroshima Museum of Art, Dec. 17, 1988-Feb. 12, 1989; Nara Prefectural Museum of Art, Feb. 18-April 9, 1989. Art Exhibitions Australia.. Renoir: Master Impressionist. Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, July 30-Sept. 11, 1994; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Sept. 19-Oct. 30, 1994; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov, 6, 1994-Jan. 15, 1995. Cat. by John House. Kern, Steven, et al. A Passion for Renoir: Sterling and Francine Clark Collect, 19161951. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1996 Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. Elda Fezzi.. L'opera complete di Renoir, nel periodo impressionista 1869-1883.. Milan: Rizzoli.. 1972.. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Ruth Berson.. The New Painting, Impressionism 1874-1886. Documentation, 2 vols.. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.. 1996.. Ivinski, Patricia R. "Robert Sterling Clark as a Collector of Renoir." The Magazine Antiques 62, no. 4 (October 1997): 532–35. Richard Whelan.. Impressionist Flowers: Art of the Bouquet.. Middletown (CA): First Glance Books.. 1998.. Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012. Ganz, James A. and Richard R. Brettell. Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011.

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EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY

Provenance

The artist, sold to Durand-Ruel, 6 Jan. 1881; [Durand-Ruel, Paris, from 1881]; Potter Palmer, Chicago (by 1892–d. 1902); Bertha Honoré Palmer, Chicago, his wife, by descent (1902–d. 1918); [Howard Young Galleries, New York, c. 1922]; Annie Swan Coburn, Chicago (d. 1932); The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection (1933–42); [Knoedler, New York; sold to Clark, 31 Jan. 1942]; Robert Sterling Clark (1942–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.